Zoekveld

Come join the private beta

Posted on wo, aug 27, 2008 by jwhatcott Whatcott

As you may have heard over on TechCrunch, the Acquia private beta program is in full swing. Beta testers are able to download and test our commercially supported Drupal distribution (aka "Carbon") and utilize our new web-based network services and support delivery platform (aka "Spokes").

We have previously invited a few hundred people into the beta program, and today we're expanding it by handing out invites through TechCrunch and Drupalcon Szeged. The first 100 people to apply through the link on the TechCrunch site will be automatically invited to join immediately. Anyone who requests entry in person at Drupalcon Szeged will also get a same-day invite.

Don't despair if you want access to the program, but haven't been invited so far. We are adding hundreds of people each week and will eventually add all registered Acquia.com members who have requested access to pre-release software and have opted in to hear from us via email. If you need to register, click here. If you want to update your Acquia.com profile, click here.

You may be wondering why we we're doing a private program with limited membership. We've seen tremendous interest in our products since we announced the company back in March. We want to make sure we deliver a great experience for everyone involved. Our business is largely about delivering high quality responsive support, and since we're building our support systems and hiring people in parallel with running the beta program, we want to make sure we are set up to succeed. We're making good progress in scaling up our support organiation, so we're expanding the program now and plan to continue this expansion over the weeks ahead.

Our vision for enhancing the total experience with Drupal is becoming a reality, and we're on the march to get the full Acquia goodness in the hands of our customers and partners this fall. I look forward to seeing all of you in the beta forums very soon.

There you will find that:
"Our main goal is to be a product company, not a professional services
company. So, no - we don’t intend to compete with web development
shops and consultants for services projects. We do note that, as an
organization directly seeking to improve Drupal’s widespread use, we
may from time to time seek to work with other software vendor partners
to add functionality to link Drupal with their software. If such a
project were to be very large, we may seek to get paid for that
work."

"We do not claim to own or control Drupal in any way. Acquia is a
member of the Drupal community, similar to any other organization. We
want to see the Drupal community succeed and to do so, we will listen
to and work with the community to advance Drupal. The Drupal
Association continues to operate the drupal.org domain, Dries
continues to own the Drupal trademark, and the Drupal community
continues to set the technical direction of the Drupal project."

"Is Acquia a “fork” of Drupal or will Acquia “fork” Drupal?
No, and we will constantly strive to make sure such a thing does not
happen. Acquia’s success is directly tied to overall success of the
Drupal project - and to how widely adopted Drupal becomes. Our goal is
to help increase the use of Drupal by a factor of at least 10 in the
next several years. We strongly feel that the only way to accomplish
this is to become part of the community and collaborate in making
Drupal successful - not to fork or compete with it. We at Acquia will
never succeed on our own; we will only succeed if we are part of a
larger Drupal community, and work with the community to create a
“rising tide” for all Drupal boats."